QUILLS
Noun
quills
plural of quill
Anagrams
• squill
Source: Wiktionary
QUILL
Quill, n. Etym: [Perhaps fr. F. quille ninepin (see Kayless); but cf.
also G. kiel a quill. MHG. kil, and Ir. cuille a quill.]
1. One of the large feathers of a bird's wing, or one of the
rectrices of the tail; also, the stock of such a feather.
2. A pen for writing made by sharpening and splitting the point or
nib of the stock of a feather; as, history is the proper subject of
his quill. Sir H. Wotton.
3. (Zoöl.)
(a) A spine of the hedgehog or porcupine.
(b) The pen of a squid. See Pen.
4. (Mus.)
(a) The plectrum with which musicians strike the strings of certain
instruments.
(b) The tube of a musical instrument.
He touched the tender stops of various quills. Milton.
5. Something having the form of a quill; as:
(a) The fold or plain of a ruff.
(b) (Weaving) A spindle, or spool, as of reed or wood, upon which the
thread for the woof is wound in a shuttle.
(c) (Mach.) A hollow spindle. Quill bit, a bit for boring resembling
the half of a reed split lengthways and having its end sharpened like
a gouge.
– Quill driver, one who works with a pen; a writer; a clerk.
[Jocose] -- Quill nib, a small quill pen made to be used with a
holder. Simmonds.
Quill, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Quilled; p. pr. & vb. n. Quilling.]
1. To plaint in small cylindrical ridges, called quillings; as, to
quill a ruffle.
His cravat seemed quilled into a ruff. Goldsmith.
2. To wind on a quill, as thread or yarn. Judd.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition